An area school board has slipped into a deficit position for the first time in nearly 10 years.

The Grand Erie District School Board entered the 2024-25 fiscal year with an operating budget of $397.3 million and capital budget of $23.5 million. But even after a revision in December, expenses ran higher.

“Senior administration is reporting a compliant deficit position of $3.7 million, indicating expenditures exceed revenues,” Rafal Wyszynski, the board’s superintendent of business and treasurer, told trustees at a board meeting on Monday.

It means the board had to pull from its surplus reserves, dropping them from $11.1 million to $7.4 million.

Because it represents less than one per cent of the board’s operating allocation, it won’t trigger an “in-year deficit elimination plan,” Wyszyn

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